


Comfort

by Shannon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-06-26
Updated: 2004-06-26
Packaged: 2018-12-16 15:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11831703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shannon/pseuds/Shannon
Summary: Draco and Hermione run into each other at University.





	Comfort

Hermione raced down the long hall and turned into the first empty classroom she saw. She couldn’t believe he had embarrassed her that way. She knew she wasn’t the prettiest girl around but she wasn’t ugly either, and even is she was she deserved better than her boyfriend showing up in class kissing some other girl. If he found someone else he should have at least had the respect to tell her privately. She slammed the door and collapsed into the nearest chair, dropping her head to the desk and crying. 

 

Draco frowned when he saw the bushy-haired blur run past him. He knew she was attending the same school but hadn’t seen her in the year and half he’d been there. He had heard about her, just like at Hogwarts, she was every teacher’s favorite student. She was the last person he expected to find however, he had been sure she would stay closer London where both Potter and Weasley had entered Auror training right out of Hogwarts. 

He followed her to the empty classroom and was standing outside the door watching her cry through the small window in the door. Something had upset her, a lot; that alone intrigued him. What could’ve happened to reduce Hermione Granger to tears. In seven years at Hogwarts he could count the number of times he’d seen her cry on one hand. Even with all the horrible things he had done to both her and her friends she hadn’t let most of it get to her that much. He moved his hand to open the door but hesitated, he was hardly the person she’d find most comforting right now. 

Comfort? Was that what he wanted to do? Since when had he wanted to comfort anyone but especially a Gryffindor. Things had changed a lot since he left Hogwarts. His father was dead, as was the Dark Lord. He didn’t know where his mother had gone, and he wasn’t sure he cared. He enjoyed being able to be himself for the first time in his life. He was able to have friends that weren’t part of Voldemort’s circle and he didn’t have to feign a hate that he didn’t feel. It wasn’t that he liked muggles or mud-bloods he just really didn’t care either way. If they left him alone he would leave them alone. 

Yet he found himself ready to enter a room and comfort a mud-blood. That would certainly destroy the image of himself he’d spent so many years creating for her and her friends. Sighing, he pushed the door open and stepped inside, deciding that someone should speak to her and since no one else seemed to be following her…

“Granger?” 

Hermione’s eye’s opened but she didn’t raise her head. She knew that voice, although it didn’t seem to hold the perpetual sneer she was so accustomed to. The person attached to the voice however, was the last person she wanted to see right now. Well, the second to last, she really didn’t want to see Robert either. Frowning she decided that she might as well speak to him, ignoring him had never worked before and probably wouldn’t now either. “What do you want?” 

Draco took in her red eyes and tear-stained face and wasn’t sure how to respond. He wasn’t even sure why he was in here. So he simply stood staring for several minutes taking in the changes in her since leaving Hogwarts. He really wasn’t sure the changes were new or if this was the first time he had taken the time to see her as someone other than Harry Potter’s friend. Either way she had become very pretty. Her hair wasn’t as bushy as it had been a few years ago, he suspected she was using an anti-frizz potion now, and it was also shorter, barely falling past her shoulders. Her teeth no longer seemed so prominent, although, he remembered being the cause of that change in their fourth year. She was also wearing cosmetics, not as much as many other girls their age did but it was applied well. 

“I saw you run past,” he admitted, “I just wanted to see if you were okay?” 

“Didn’t know it was me then?” She said angrily.

“Actually I did know it was you. What happened?” 

“Why do you care?” 

Why did he care? It was a legitimate question, he had never cared before and had no reason to now. Yet he did care. It bothered him that someone had caused that hurt look, and only part of what was irritating him was that it wasn’t him, “I don’t know,” he finally admitted. 

Hermione raised an eyebrow in question. Why would Draco Malfoy care that she was upset. He was probably just hoping for something to use against her. “I’m fine.” 

“Well obviously that isn’t true,” Draco smirked, “I’ve known you for what, eight years now, and have only seen you cry a couple of times. Something is wrong or you wouldn’t be in here.” 

“It’s personal alright?” She responded knowing he was right and there was no point in denying it.

“Something to do with Potter or Weasley then?” 

“God no, honestly I do have a life that doesn’t involve them you know.” 

“Fine then it’s someone else,” he offered, “I’d say it was a Professor but Snape isn’t here and every other teacher I’ve ever met thinks you’re perfect.”

Hermione sighed loudly. Draco had pulled a chair away from another desk and was sitting across from her, searching her face as if the answer would appear there. He obviously wasn’t going to leave until she told him what had happened. Finally deciding it couldn’t make things any worse, she had already been embarrassed in front of her entire Transfiguration class anyway she got up and began pacing the room.

“It’s Robert, he’s my boyfriend, or well was,” she finally said quietly, “He, well he broke up with me.” 

“And you’re that upset about it?” Draco asked surprised. Dating had never seemed important to Gryffindor’s favorite know-it-all, and certainly shouldn’t have upset her this much. “He probably isn’t worth it.” 

“Its not the breaking up that upset me,” she replied trying to hide her surprise at his last statement. “He never…he didn’t even have the decency to tell me. He showed up to class today with some other girl and was…kissing her in the hallway outside the room. Everyone saw him.”

Draco’s frown deepened. He hadn’t expected that. So she wasn’t so much hurt as embarrassed. He considered telling her the guy was probably a loser but she wasn’t going to want to hear it, and probably knew that already. “Why?” He finally asked.

“Why what?” Hermione snapped, “Why was he doing that? Why didn’t he tell me? Why was I so stupid as to not see it?” 

“I meant why didn’t it work out,” Draco clarified, “I already know why he didn’t tell you and why he would do it that way. It’s because he’s a sorry excuse for a man. And you aren’t stupid just trusting, which seems to be another of the horrible Gryffindor traits.” 

Hermione found herself once again shocked by his response. She had fully expected him to laugh at her; to make her feel even dumber than she already did, certainly not to insult Robert. “Because he thinks I’m boring.” 

“Boring?” Draco asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

“Yeah, you know the little know-it-all always studying and thinking too much, and not wanting to do…things.”

“Th…” Draco’s voice trailed off as he realized what sort of things she was talking about, “You aren’t boring.”

“Right, I’m just so exciting, that’s why you spent so much time tormenting me.” 

“Actually if I thought you were boring I wouldn’t have bothered with you,” Draco smirked, “Never saw me so much as speak to Lavender Brown or Pavarti Patil did you?” 

“So I’m not too boring to make fun of,” Hermione frowned, not seeing his statement as much of a compliment, “But I still don’t…”

“Not shagging him doesn’t make you boring,” Draco offered, “Actually considering today’s events I would say it makes you pretty damn smart.” 

Hermione frowned she couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with Draco Malfoy. She never thought she’d be discussing her experience or lack of it with him of all people. She’d never even had this conversation with Harry and Ron. Yet she found herself confiding even more of her personal life to him, “I’m smart, I don’t think anyone ever doubted that, but I don’t know how to…I’m not…I don’t…”

Draco listened to her stuttering out a reply. This guy had obviously done more damage to her self-esteem in the short time she’d be at university than he had managed in seven years at Hogwarts. He watched as the blushed crept up her neck and spread to her cheeks as she tried to find a way to tell him what this guy had done. Finally deciding to take a guess at what she wanted to say, “He told you that you don’t…turn him on?” he suggested.

Frowning, Hermione nodded her head slowly. She then returned her focus to the floor not wanting to look at him anymore. Not wanting to see the confirmation of Robert’s words in his eyes. She knew Robert was right, after all she had known that for years, she still remembered vividly the pain of Ron’s sudden realization that she was indeed a girl in their fourth year. 

“Ever consider that it’s his issue not yours?” 

“What?” Her head snapped up in surprise.

“There is no reason at all to not find you attractive, so maybe he’s…,” Draco hesitated, searching for the right words, “Some men don’t like…no that’s wrong, can’t deal with smart women. It has nothing to do with how you look it’s that you are probably smarter than he is.”

Hermione bit her bottom lip in concentration as she considered what Draco was saying. She wasn’t necessarily convinced but it was possible that what he said held some merit, “Are you saying I’m attractive?”

Draco smirked, “Yeah, I guess I am.” 

“This isn’t some elaborate prank to further embarrass me?” 

“No, my father is gone, we aren’t at Hogwarts,” Draco said quietly, “Pure-blood and muggle-born; Gryffindor and Slytherin just don’t matter so much now.” 

“That’s true, I guess,” she smiled, “I still find it hard to believe that Draco Malfoy is telling me I’m attractive.” 

“Want proof?” He asked leaning forward and kissing her softly.


End file.
